Language and languages, mostly but not always about English

10/02/2014

Breath-taking fraud in British language exam

From the BBC about English language exams in the UK for people wanting to enter the country as overseas students:

Director Varinder Bajarh said: “Someone else will sit the exam for you. But you will have to have your photo taken there to prove you were present.” … each of the 14 candidates had a “fake sitter” who took the spoken and written tests for them. All the real candidates had to do was wait to have their photograph taken - as proof they were there.

As an oral examiner for a proper language testing system (Cambridge University ESOL), what can I say except that I am appalled that there is no proper ID check on candidates?

I would agree with that. Though I have no direct experience, it seems that too much responsibility is being placed on language schools and universities to do work that should be done by the state. But that is no excuse for tolerating a bogus language-testing service.